Calcium supplementation is important for swine diets because most commonly used feed ingredients have low concentrations of calcium. In a typical corn-soybean meal diet for a growing pig, the corn and soybean meal contribute only about 16% of the total calcium, with the rest coming from supplements. Apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) values for calcium have not been reported for many common ingredients, and no values for the standardized total tract digestibility (STTD) of calcium have been reported. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to determine the ATTD and STTD of calcium in five calcium supplements.

An additional objective was to test the hypothesis that inclusion of microbial phytase in the diets increases the ATTD and STTD of calcium. Results of previous research has indicated that inclusion of microbial phytase in swine diets often increases the digestibility of calcium, but the effect of phytase on the STTD of calcium in individual ingredients has not been reported.

Kim, B. G., D. M. Wulf, R. J. Maddock, D. N. Peters, C. Pedersen, Y. Liu, and H. H. Stein. 2014. Effects of dietary barley on growth performance, carcass traits and pork quality of finishing pigs. Rev. Colomb. Cienc. Pecu. 27:102-113. Link to full text

Cervantes-Pahm, S. K. Y. Liu, A. Evans, and H. H. Stein. 2014. Effect of novel fiber ingredients on ileal and total tract digestibility of energy and nutrients in semi-purified diets fed to growing pigs. J. Sci. Food Agric. 94:1284-1290. Link to full text (.pdf)

Cervantes-Pahm, S. K., Y. Liu, and H. H. Stein. 2014. Comparative digestibility of energy and nutrients and fermentability of dietary fiber in eight cereal grains fed to pigs. J. Sci. Food Agric. 94:841–849. Link to full text (.pdf)

Owusu-Asiedu, A., N. W. Jaworski, A. A. Awati, and H. H. Stein. 2014. Effect of Bacillus spp. direct-fed microbial supplementation on the nutrient digestibility by weanling pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 92(Suppl. 2):143 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

Sotak, K. M. and H. H. Stein. 2014. Concentrations of digestible and metabolizable and net energy in soybean meal produced throughout the United States and fed to pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 92(Suppl. 2):68-69 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

Jaworski, N. W., A. Owusu-Asiedu, A. A. Awati, and H. H. Stein. 2014. Effect of Bacillus spp. direct-fed microbials on fecal VFA concentrations, growth performance, and carcass characteristics of growing-finishing pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 92(Suppl. 2):56 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

González-Vega, J. C., C. L. Walk, and H. H. Stein. 2014. Effects of microbial phytase on apparent and standardized total tract digestibility of calcium in calcium supplements fed to growing pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 92(Suppl. 2):36 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

The carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) is an evergreen native to the Mediterranean area. Its fruit, technically a legume, consists of leathery brown pods that contain hard brown seeds in a sweet pulp. The pods can be crushed, with or without the seeds, to produce a meal that is fed to animals. Because carob pod meal contains 40-45% sugars, it promotes feed intake and adds energy to the diet. Carob pods also contain tannins. As inclusion rates of carob pod meal increase, the tannins can inhibit nutrient digestibility, which limits carob inclusion in swine diets. However, at lower inclusion rates, carob pod meal can reduce the incidence of diarrhea in weanling pigs due to the tannins' effect on the intestinal mucosa.

Caromic 105 is a deseeded, toasted, micronized carob pod meal product. An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of Caromic 105 on growth performance of weanling pigs.